Lot Essay
For masks depicting a father figure from New Comedy see the marble relief in Naples and the marble mask in Dresden, nos. 324 and 330 in Bieber, The History of the Greek and Roman Theater.
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CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
Details
A ROMAN BRONZE OINOCHOE
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
The piriform vessel cast with thick walls, the profiled moldings of the rim, exterior and overhanging interior, and the concentric circles on the underside of the foot lathe-turned, the high-arching handle cast separately, with foliate ornament along the shaft, an acanthus leaf at the base and a projecting palmette above serving as the thumb rest, with duck heads extending on either side along the rim, both with incised details and inlaid silver for the eyes, the terminal in the form of a New Comedy mask, perhaps a father figure, with a roll of hair brushed back from the forehead and long strands framing the face, a full beard of corkscrew curls overlapped by a full mustache, the inlaid silver eyes beneath expressive angular brows
9 7/8 in. (25 cm.) high
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
The piriform vessel cast with thick walls, the profiled moldings of the rim, exterior and overhanging interior, and the concentric circles on the underside of the foot lathe-turned, the high-arching handle cast separately, with foliate ornament along the shaft, an acanthus leaf at the base and a projecting palmette above serving as the thumb rest, with duck heads extending on either side along the rim, both with incised details and inlaid silver for the eyes, the terminal in the form of a New Comedy mask, perhaps a father figure, with a roll of hair brushed back from the forehead and long strands framing the face, a full beard of corkscrew curls overlapped by a full mustache, the inlaid silver eyes beneath expressive angular brows
9 7/8 in. (25 cm.) high
Provenance
Dr. Ernst Begner, Basel, collected between the early 1960s and 1980s.